The disadvantages of the disadvantaged

Thomas Sowell, The Quest for Cosmic Justice, page 6. I have enjoyed almost all the books and columns of Thomas Sowell that I have read. Overarching common sense, married to a burrowing interest in the facts, communicated through an almost conversational style of writing. In fact he is almost too good an author. While I agree with a great deal of what he has to say, there are points of difference. However, I will read a whole paragraph or column and arriving at the end find myself nodding my mental head to a conclusion with which I disagree. It is easy to be lulled, even if he is a great teacher. Or possibly, better said, it is easy to be lulled because he is a great teacher.

Nor should we imagine that quantifiable economic differences or political and social inequalities exhaust the disabilities of the less fortunate. Affluent professional people have access to all sorts of sources of free knowledge and advice from highly educated and knowledgeable friends and relatives, and perhaps substantial financial aid in time of crisis from some of these same sources. They also tend to have greater access to those with political power, whether through direct contacts or through the simple fact of being able to make an articulate presentation in terms acceptable to political elites. Moreover, the fact that the affluent tend to have the air of knowledgeable people makes them less likely to become targets for many of the swindlers who prey on the ignorant and the poor.

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In short, statistical inequalities do not begin to exhaust the advantages of the advantaged or the disadvantages of the disadvantaged.